


your love is more, than worth it’s weight in gold

by interstellarbeams



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Babyfic, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Future Fic, JJ makes dumb decisions (per usual), Kie and JJ make an adorable baby, Living Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25966276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstellarbeams/pseuds/interstellarbeams
Summary: Snapshot of JJ and Kiara after Marley is born.
Relationships: JJ & Kiara (Outer Banks), JJ Maybank & Kiara Carrera, JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 74





	your love is more, than worth it’s weight in gold

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [spinning in circles (hoping one day i face you)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030661) by [wolfchester](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfchester/pseuds/wolfchester). 



> Just a little idea that I couldn’t get out of my head. I love baby!fic and Sarah’s inspired me to write this small future scene between JJ, Kie and their baby.
> 
> For Sarah. Cause this fic wouldn’t exist without you and your wonderful fanfic. Thanks for all the feels! 😊
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated! 💕

_I'm so in love with you  
And I hope you know  
Darling, your love is more than worth its weight in gold  
We've come so far, my dear  
Look how we've grown_

_Say You Won’t Let Go_ — James Arthur

“I can’t believe we’re going to be the parents of a one year old in a few weeks.”

“God, I know. It feels like she was just born.” Kie held her mug in between two hands, staring off into the distance like she was remembering that day — all the pain and labor but then the joy and completion she had felt when their baby girl was laid in her arms.

“I can’t believe she’s ours. Like, we were blessed with this sweet angel and what did we do to deserve it?”

Kie set down her mug of tea and moved closer, smoothing a hand over his back before pressing a kiss against his shoulder. 

“JJ… you were always deserving of the best life has to give. You can’t keep reliving what your father told you, over and over. He’s a sick, abusive person and he’s a liar.” 

“I know. You’re— you’re right.” JJ hated how his voice wobbled. He knew he wasn’t the piece of shit that his dad always told him he was, but the memories of his dad’s hurtful words still echoed in his head all these years later. 

The baby babbled in her pack ‘n play, clearly awake from the nap they had put her down for earlier.

“I guess it’s about time for her lunch then.”

“Yeah, probably.”

Kie leaned into his space, brown eyes warm  
and searching, then she smiled at him — a soft, blooming lifting of her lips that made her eyes sparkle. 

“I’m so proud of you, you know that right?” 

“Of course. I’m proud of you too.” He cupped her cheek with one hand, bending so that their foreheads touched and they breathed in each other’s oxygen before a louder shriek from their offspring made them pull apart.

Kie bent to rummage under the kitchen sink, while JJ took a quick sip of her cooling tea, brushing a few tears away from his cheek as he moved toward the living room.

“JJ, please, for the love of god. Use a bib this time. I had a hell of a time getting that spaghetti sauce out of Marley’s light pink onesie. Sarah gave her that and I’m sure it was expensive.” She added as she followed him out of the kitchen. 

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you.”

“You better or you’ll be the one hand washing all of my delicates with a toothbrush.”

“You wound me, Kie. It’s like you don’t trust me or something. Besides, I am always up for fondling your delicates.”

“I trust you, with a lot, just not with general cleanliness. That’s why I’m going into the bathroom to attack the shower and toilet with these.” Kie held up two spray bottles of cleaning products, yellow rubber gloves encasing her arms up to the elbows. 

He had heard all he wanted to about how the stereotypical male and female roles were shared in their home, not that he ever expected her to do everything herself. But JJ’s idea of clean and Kie’s was completely different so she used her unlimited amount of elbow grease to scrub their house and he got to feed the baby. 

“Better you than me.” JJ muttered as he reached into the playpen to scoop up their little, chubby, bundle of joy who had just woken up.

“Isn’t that’s right, Marley?” His voice turned bright as he pressed a kiss to the baby’s head, breathing in her sweet sleepy smell. 

“I heard that.” Kie’s voice followed after her as she walked down the hall, a teal headband wrapped around her head to hold back her curls. 

“Mommy’s got great hearing, huh? I wonder when she got bit by the radioactive spider.” JJ teased, shifting the baby’s weight onto his arm as he moved towards Marley’s bedroom. Probably it came with the territory of _mom_ , something he had heard from Sarah — he hadn’t had much experience with his own mother to know what constituted “mom-like” behavior.

“Dada, dada, dada.” Marley repeated her baby babbling, reaching up and grabbing a handful of JJ’s hair. 

“Okay. Time to let go of daddy’s hair.” JJ gently pried her grasping fingers from his hair. _Maybe it was a good idea to get a haircut like Kie had been pestering him to do for months now._

He reached into her crib for her favorite stuffed animal, a squishy dolphin that John B had bought for her on one of his trips to the Bahamas, set her down on the changing table and handed her the stuffed toy to entertain her while he changed her diaper.

“Dada, dada, dada,” She said again and he mimicked her, tickling her bare belly with quick fingers that made her giggle heartily, her cheeks dimpling as she smiled. 

“Are you hungry?” He asked as he picked her back up, carried her out of the room and down the hall. 

She was big enough to walk now but she had a stubborn streak like both her parents and refused to do it unless it was on her terms, nominally when it was late at night and she was supposed to be asleep. But instead sat on the living room floor and pulled herself up on all the furniture and tried to grab phones, remotes, coasters and anything that was on the edges of the tables that she could reach. 

JJ dragged the high chair over towards the kitchen island and managed to juggle Marley and the high chair tray in order to get her settled in, so he could gather her cup, a spoon and her baby food with her safely ensconced in her seat. 

“Looks like we got organic apple, spinach and oats or organic kale, peas and pears. To be honest,” JJ spoke to the baby who watched his movements with rapt attention, “I think they both sound kinda gross but your momma won’t allow anything else to pass your lips.” 

Marley whacked chubby hands on the plastic tray before getting distracted by the sippy cup that JJ put down in front of her.

“Drink up, baby girl.” 

The smell of the goat’s milk they had to feed her always turned his stomach but Marley was sensitive to lactose as they had learned after a month or two of constant belly aches, spit ups on every outfit she owned and endless screaming fits until she exhausted herself. Kie had been anxious about their baby’s pain and taken her to the pediatrician multiple times while JJ stayed up with her night after night so her college student mom could get some sleep. 

JJ brushed a hand over her soft curls and she dropped her cup down to the tray with a clatter. “Dada dada dada.”

“How about you say mama for once, little one?” Kie rounded the corner of the island from behind and Marley’s lips split into a grin at the sight of her. 

“She knows who you are at least. She doesn’t smile at me like that.” JJ faux pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No, but you’re the only one she’ll let rock her to sleep. It’s not like I carried her inside me for nine months or anything.” 

“Aww, babe. No worries. You can rock me to sleep anytime.” JJ winked, the opportunity to tease his girlfriend too good to pass up.

Kie whacked him in the shoulder and he ducked away laughing. 

“No innuendo in front of our daughter. She’s got innocent ears.”

“She can’t even say “up” yet and you’re worried she knows what we’re talking about.”

“No, but if you don’t curb what you say around her now, older Marley is gonna copy something you say and get in trouble at school or something.”

“She’s be just like her dad then — a chip off the old block.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

“That hurts Kie. I thought you loved my spontaneity.” 

“Ha. Need I remind you of your spontaneity that made me a mother at twenty one.”

“I vaguely remember you being there.” JJ teased, sneaking a arm around Kie’s waist and pressing a kiss to her neck.

“I’m all chemically. I don’t want you to transfer that to Marley.” She tried to push him off but JJ only clung harder.

“You buy all that organic, natural cleaning shit. It’s fine. Like vinegar, lemon and lavender. All good things. Plus it’s basically the same thing we wash her clothes in. We’re good.”

“At least you listen to me when I talk. I feel like you’re usually zoned out on video games or texting Pope on your phone.”

“Nah. I listen to you, it’s just when you repeat it over and over that I tune out.”

“That’s nice.” Kie uttered a shocked laugh, but relaxed against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. JJ ducked his head against her neck breathing in the natural smell of her skin that he never wanted to forget as long as he lived.

“She’s so cute.” She whispered, causing JJ to glance up. 

Marley sat in her high chair, small fingers buried in her hair, a curious, open mouthed expression on her face.

“I wonder why she does that.”

“I don’t know. She’s feeling it, I guess. She tried to pull out a chunk of mine earlier.”

Kie drug her hands through the hair on the back of his neck, fingers eliciting a shudder from him. 

“I keep telling you to get a haircut, but will you listen to me, no?” 

“I will. I will. Stop pressuring me.”

“Oh? I’m pretty sure that’s always how our relationship has worked. I tell you to do something and you ignore me.”

“Hey! Some of my ideas were good ones. I didn’t need a babysitter.” 

“Keep telling yourself that, JJ.”

Marley started rambling on nonsense words, a serious frown on her face.

“That’s right, baby. Tell daddy he’s being ridiculous.” Kie moved away from JJ, who let her go reluctantly, and bent to kiss the top of Marley’s head.

“Okay. I guess the pre-soak is probably done by now. I’ll be in the bathroom.”

“‘K.’ So, Marley-girl, what’ll it be?” 

JJ held the glass (earth friendly) baby food jars out in front of her and she grabbed at one of them. “Apple, spinach and oats it is.”

“Oh, sh— I forgot the bib.” JJ hopped up to retrieve the bib, Marley’s indignant squawk giving him fumble fingers.

“Coming.” JJ bent to secure the bib around her neck, Marley craning her neck as he tried to connect the velcro. “I can’t put it on when you move around like that, sweet pea.” 

Marley frowned at him, as he sat back down, and unscrewed the lid. “It’s coming. Here.”

The first spoonful was swallowed quickly but her face puckered comically. “Oh no. It _is_ gross. I was worried about this.” JJ couldn’t help a quiet laugh from escaping his lips, at the expression on her face. 

“It’s probably the spinach. Not very tasty.”

He offered her another spoonful but she didn’t open her mouth like the first time. _Is it really that bad?_ JJ wondered, _apples should make it palatable, right?_

He tried making funny noises — _mmm mmm mmm_ , _yum_ and airplane noises — and singing a made up song about how good spinach was but she wasn’t having it. 

_This is a bad idea_ , JJ thought, before he took a bite of the baby food, almost gagging on the bland taste yet disgusting texture.

“Bleh.” He grabbed a handful of paper towel and spit out the mouthful.

A bright, bubbling laugh rang out of Marley’s mouth, her cheeks rounding as she smiled at his misfortunate idea to taste her baby food.

“Oh, you think that’s funny, huh?” JJ couldn’t help but smile back at her, her delightful reaction extracting his. 

She watched him raptly like she expected a repeat show. Typically, JJ wouldn’t have repeated the same mistake, but something about Kiara and their daughter, had him wrapped around their fingers and he couldn’t disappoint her.

So he steeled himself and took another bite, exaggerating his disgusted expression just to hear her beautiful laugh again. 

“JJ, what are you doing?”

“Trying to get Marley to eat…”

“Why is there baby food on your face?” Kie gave him an odd look which he knew he deserved.

“I— she, well…”

“Do I want to know?”

“She wasn’t eating it! I was trying to convince her how good it is but she’s a skeptic like you. She wouldn’t take another bite so I figured if she thought I liked it, then she would want to try it.” 

“Okay…” Kie propped a fist on her hip, a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. She tried to hide it by ducking her head but he caught it.

“That’s what Marley did. She thought it was funny that I thought it was disgusting too, so I had to keep doing it. I just wanted to make her happy.”

Kie shook her head, chuckling lightly, before she reached into the fruit basket on the island and pulled out a banana. “Well, I’m glad she’s enjoying herself at the expense of your tastebuds but please feed her something, or she’ll get extremely cranky.”

“You know you want some. Spinach is like your favorite thing, you’re always dumping it into your breakfast smoothies.”

“Yeah, with blueberries and bananas. It’s not happening.” Kie ducked her head, laughing as he tried to rub his baby food smeared cheek on her.

“Stop! JJ! I don’t want to take another shower today!” Green baby food smeared across her white tank and she looked down at it, before turning her glare on him.

“Come on, Kie! Have some fun!” JJ teased, swiping up a finger full out of the jar where it sat on the counter beside them and trying to smear it on her face.

“No!” Kie laughed again, dodging out of the way and slipping under his arm to snatch up a paper towel from the roll on the counter and turning around to shove it into his face.

“Hey! Not cool, K—“ The paper towel muffled his voice as he tried to wrestle it away from her as her hand wrapped around the back of his neck to force his face into the paper.

“God, I feel like Marley when we try to wipe her face clean, Kie.”

“Ha, well, you deserve it for trying to get that nastiness on me. Blech.”

They both breathed hard as they tried to calm their racing hearts from the playful fighting. JJ’s hair flopped over his forehead and Kie’s headband had slipped back over her head, her hair falling out of its bun. 

“We’re a mess.” Kie laughed, taking the paper towel and gently wiping at his face while JJ lifted a hand to brush a smudge of the green stuff off of her chin. 

“Yeah, but you’re still beautiful.” Kie bit her lip, glancing away towards Marley who was entranced by her bib, before she looked back into his face.

JJ brushed his thumb against her lips, vulnerability sharp on his tongue as he admitted his feelings. “I can’t believe you love me.” 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Kie lifted her hand to his cheek, the pressure of her palm and the attentiveness of her touch, warming his heart. “You love me wholeheartedly, always making sure I'm okay even if it’s something as simple as a text while I’m at the grocery store to make sure I make it home alright or a huge deal and you take care of Marley so I can go to school. And you do insane things like eat nasty baby food just to make our daughter laugh. I’d be crazy not to love you.”

“I guess we’re both a little crazy. Cause I can’t stop loving you either.”

He relaxed into her touch, clinging to her like she was a lifeline and he was a drowning man. He had been give a chance at happiness when he had learned about Kie’s pregnancy. She could have let him be a father from a distance but Kie had known how important it was for him to be different from his father — how he wanted to be present and there with his child. He hadn’t felt like he deserved it then and he was unsure of his worth now but Kie’s belief in him made up for the insufficiency of his. 

“You mean so much to me.” He spoke, his voice thick with tears. “You and Marley.” 

“I know, JJ. I know.” Her thumb continued to stroke along his cheek and he could almost believe they were the only two people in the room, maybe the world, if not for the small whispering sounds Marley was making from her spot in the high chair.

Their noses brushed as they leaned in closer, Kie’s cold against his, a sharp contrast with the warmth of her lips as they caressed his. He traced a hand up her arm and over her shoulder until his fingers tangled in her hair. The way their lips fit together was familiar but never boring, each kiss unique, forever erupting sparks of light behind his eyelids. 

Kie’s gripped his shoulders tightly as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer into his chest. The closeness should have made him claustrophobic or triggered his anxiety but he only felt the love that exuded out of their embrace. 

“Mama.”

“Did you hear that?” Kie jerked her head towards Marley who was staring at them, while JJ loosened his grip on her.

“I thought I heard her say, ‘mama’? She said _mama_ , right?” Kie’s eyes were wide with amazement and giddy emotions as she glanced back at him before approaching their daughter.

“Marley? Marley, who’s this?” JJ pointed at his chest. She moved her head to the side like she was considering her answer, her brown eyes serious.

“Dada.”

“Right. Good girl. And,” JJ moved so that he stood next to Kie, pointing his finger towards her. “who’s this?” 

Marley reached out chubby little arms to Kie, her fingers grabbing at the air as she asked to be picked up. “Mama.”

“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe it! She called me mama.” Kie’s eyes were bright with unshed tears as she cradled the baby in her arms, pressing her nose into the top of her head. 

Marley let her snuggle for a moment before threading her fingers into Kie’s loose curls, lifting fistfuls of dark hair to her mouth and slobbering on them. 

“Is it weird that she has a thing for hair?”

“No. She’s our daughter. And she’s perfect.” Kie pressed a kiss to Marley’s cheek and she played shy, pulling away from her lips and ducking her head.

“Perfect doesn’t begin to describe it.” JJ wrapped his arms around Kie and Marley. Thanking whatever higher power there was, that he had been given such a lucky break. He wasn’t worthy, but he would do everything in his power to show them just how grateful he was for what they had given him.


End file.
